June 5, 2014

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Day 44

The Stanley Cup Final begins.  And what do you know, it didn't end 1-0!

Game 1: NY Rangers vs. Los Angeles.

Not only was there more than one goal scored, but the game went to overtime as well.

An exciting beginning to a series that looks like it'll be more than just the Kings dominating.

In fact, in an interesting turn of events, the Rangers were the ones who came out strong.  They had two goals in the first period and led 2-1 afterward.

Of course, that lead wasn't going to last.  Hell, they were up 2-0 in the first period and that lasted a few minutes at most.

Drew Doughty scored the equalizer in the second period.  The Rangers couldn't manage a response and Quick saved all the shots on goal after the first.

This obviously became a problem in the third; neither team scored and that took the game into overtime.

Around five minutes into the OT period, Justin Williams scored the game-winner.  I don't know how the Rangers allowed this.  In fact, when the goal was scored, I openly questioned how they could let him score, of all people. Surely they saw what he had done in the seventh game of the prior series LA had played.  They had to know that he's a big-game guy and was looking to make his mark once again.

Alas, it was not to be.  And while the Rangers lost and are down 1-0 in the series, they proved that it's not going to be a runaway.  Even if their offense gets shut down for long amounts of time, they still have a solid defense and one of the best goaltenders in the NHL behind it.

Los Angeles leads 1-0.  Game 2 is Saturday.

Yup, more unnecessary days off when there's no travel between games.

No comments:

Post a Comment